West Cork drug-dealer 'unlikely to re-offend' avoids jail

The court heard the man "is holding down a full-time job, staying drug-free and attending with his addiction counsellor"

Gardaí found cocaine with a street value of €5,900 underneath the man's bed along with a digital weighing-scales, two mobile phones and a large number of deal bags. Picture: iStock

An Enniskeane man who as actively involved in cocaine-dealing in rural areas of West Cork has been given a fully suspended three-year sentence.

Ian Murphy was sentenced by Judge Dara Hayes at Cork Circuit Criminal Court. A stash of over €5,000 worth of cocaine — along with two mobile phones, deal bags and a weighing scales — was found in his bedroom during a drugs search.

The accused admitted that he had the cocaine for sale or supply on May 12, 2020, at his home at 4 Tir na Greine, Enniskeane, County Cork.

Judge Dara Hayes commented from the prosecution evidence that the accused had been actively involved in dealing in cocaine in his local community for profit. However, the judge adjourned sentencing until Monday, May 15, and said the defendant had not come to further garda attention.

“It is clear he has put his time to good use. He has brought himself to the point where he no longer requires probation supervision.

It appears to me that I must sentence him as he now is rather than as he was at the time of his offending… It seems to me that he is a person who is unlikely to re-offend.

Det. Garda Colin O’Mahony said last year that gardaí from the West Cork divisional drugs unit went to the home of Ian Murphy in Enniskeane with a warrant to carry out a search.

“I identified myself as a member of An Garda Síochána and he led us to his bedroom. There was cocaine with a street value of €5,900 underneath the bed. Also found were a digital weighing-scales, two mobile phones and a large number of deal bags as part of the drug-dealing enterprise,” Det. Garda O’Mahony said.

Murphy admitted at interview that he would collect money from others and travel to Cork to buy a quantity of cocaine which he would supply to 10 regular customers and three or four others in the area. He said he had been doing so for four months.

However, the detective said the drug unit in West Cork believed that the defendant was well established in the drug trade in West Cork for 15 years.

Background report

Peter O’Flynn, defence barrister, submitted that a background report on Ian Murphy referred to his complex mental health issues due to a difficult and tragic past and the fact that he started using drugs at a young age.

“He attended Bruree and completed the programme but unfortunately relapsed again. After arrest for this offence he went back into treatment and aftercare. He is attending narcotics anonymous regularly. He is holding down a full-time job, staying drug-free and attending with his addiction counsellor and remaining in aftercare. 

"He has remained drug-free for the past two-and-a-half years. He is basically doing what he can to maintain his drug-free background. It was a tremendously dysfunctional background he grew up in,” Mr O’Flynn said.